


I Care

by mrsgaryrennell



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 12:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20582231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsgaryrennell/pseuds/mrsgaryrennell
Summary: Gary notices you upset at him but is too oblivious at what he's doing. Will you make up with him or break it off for good?





	I Care

Your eyes flame at the sight of Hannah playfully pushing Gary’s shoulder. You sit tensely with a clenched jaw, trying to contain your composure.

An obnoxious giggle comes from the frisky redhead, “Oh Gary, you haven’t changed a bit!” Hannah swims closer to Gary with devious eyes as you only find the need to snatch that stupid smirk off her face. 

Your eyebrows lower at disbelief, “Well I have to say you have, mate. I reckon life after the villa has changed you for the better.” What the hell is he implying? You feel your hands shake while observing Gary’s body language. He smirks at Hannah’s hand going for his, clearly liking the attention he’s getting from her. 

You push your body away from the lounge chair, storming away from the pool area. Your head blocks out anyone from stopping you; the sight is too degrading to witness. Your head slightly turns to notice you going further away from Gary and Hannah but you can still see Hannah staring back with competitive blue eyes and a sly smile and Gary frowning as he gawks at your body disappearing into the villa. 

Your head feels heavy and a bit disoriented just at the thought of Gary giving Hannah an opportunity to explore the possibilities with him. You find yourself going towards the bathroom, closing the heavy door and leaning your back and head against it. 

Your arms wrap around your body to find comfort and warmth; something you’ve yearned and missed from Gary. There was a time when it felt like he only had eyes for you. When he made you feel like you were his and he was yours, and now… time has changed everything. You feel your chest beg for deep breaths as if avoiding emotional sighs and cries.

You close your eyes, allowing recent memories sway through your head. You never thought this was what you signed up for when you entered the villa. Walking out and laying your eyes for the first time on a spiked up haired blonde made you intake a sharp breath. His piercing blue eyes not missing a single move of yours. Never did you think that in the near future, his heart was all you ever wanted. How at first, you just wanted to stay in the competition and win but with Gary, it was so much more than that. There was a strange yet intimate connection between the two of you; a connection that no one in this villa would be able to understand. There a blissful spark that electrified every nerve in your system at the slightest gaze that came from his deep eyes. 

A tear betrays your eyelashes, traveling down your face, “I’m so pathetic…” You scoff at what you’ve become. Crying over Gary was something you’ve attempted to avoid but your heart stings just remembering how he would playfully flirt with Hannah. Something that you thought was special between you and him. 

Your heads jerks at a soft knock on the door. Your fingers quickly wipe out the evidence of any tears and clear your throat, “Yes?” 

“…It’s me, love.” Your heart stops at the muffled familiar voice. You struggle to find your voice until you hear him again. 

“Can we please have a chat? I’d like it if I could talk to you personally, rather than the door.” 

You both go silent for a moment and you battle the urge tell him to leave. Your fingers tightly grip to the door knob, slowly opening the door. The door is replaced by a wide frame of a muscular blonde. You try to keep your gasp discrete but you’re certain that he could hear it. Your eyes land on his but instantly look away. He notices how tense your shoulders got and you cross your arms, “Don’t you have Hannah to entertain? After all, she’s all you’ve been about.” You resentfully ask. 

Without losing sight of your guarded face, he closed the bathroom door. His thick dark eyebrows furrow with confusion, “Mate, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” 

Your ears begin to feel hot just making the best of your effort to keep your cool. You glare at Gary with remorse shaking within your pupils, “You’ve got to be joking. Did you forget that you’ve done nothing but spend time with that imposter?!” 

Gary rolls his eyes and rubs the side of his neck, “Bloody hell…” His fingers graze his beard, “See, this is why I thought twice about coming over here.” 

You shake your head at how oblivious he is at the situation. Your glossy eyes look down to your heels, “…I’m in disbelief at how insensitive you are.” 

“I thought we were done talking about Hannah. Babe, I’m coupled up with you, remember? Isn’t that what you wanted? Isn’t that what you asked me to do?” 

Your head turns to him with a glaring stare, “So you’ve picked me to do me a favour?” You can feel your throat swell up as you try to keep your tears from falling. He made it seem like it was just a duty rather than picking the girl he truly wanted to be with, “I would’ve never asked you about the re coupling if I had known how you felt.” 

Gary shakes his head and mutters under his breath, “I dunno what the hell I’m even doing in here if you’re accusing me of not having feelings for you, damn it.” 

You signal him to the door and remain your shaken eyes on him, “Leave me alone. I also don’t know what you’re doing here. All you’re doing is provoking me!” 

He ticks his tongue out of irritation and goes straight for the door. He despises arguments and knows that he tries to avoid them at all costs, “I need a cuppa and fresh air…” 

“Just walk away like you always do.” You mumble under your breath. Your head remains low but you still feel Gary’s presence. The silence takes over the room, only hearing your soft sniffles. You catch a quick glance at him, seeing his hand on the door knob, almost frozen as he’s pondering. Your ears ring after hearing the door close. You lift you chin to see him still there. You watch Gary mentally debating with himself as his back is still facing you. 

He turns around facing you with a frown and saddened blue orbs. You only kept brief eye contact, distracting yourself by smoothing out your hair ends. You sense Gary make his way over to your direction and sits next to you. He rests his elbows above his knees, “…I thought we had cleared things up about Hannah.” His deep voice engulfs your ears, still not daring to meet his gaze. 

He waits to hear a response from you but you remain in silence. You can feel Gary growing impatient at the tense atmosphere. He drops a heavy sigh, puzzled at the annoyance he could clearly see through your face, “Mate, I’m dim with arguments. I hate seeing you this upset.” 

You lift yourself from your seat and take a few steps away from Gary. Your arms are crossed, guarding your emotional state. Your eyes finally land on Gary, seeing his genuinely puzzled face. You keep staring at him angrily until you speak up, “…Yeah, I also thought we had cleared up our thoughts on Hannah. I implemented all my trust in you to take wise decisions and you act like I’m not there watching you graft on her.” 

His lips pursed into a thin line, seeming to swallow his dislike on the accusation, “Babe, I haven’t done anything wrong. It’s all banter anyways; just a bit of fun in the pool.” 

Your jaw feels right tense at what your ears were hearing from Gary. Nostrils are flared and oxygen heavily goes through your nose, “You are unbelievable! After you’ve come back from your date, I wanted to know how we were doing and I’ve remained as cool as I can be until I saw how you allowed her to hold your hand and dance with her in the pool. There are limits, Gary and you’ve crossed it tonight.” 

Gary gets up placing his hands on his hips, gaping his stern eyes at you the entire time, “There is nothing between me and Hannah. I don’t think you’re -”

“No, you don’t understand how I’m feeling about this. I’ve grown tired of only having to understand your feelings about loyalty; what about how I feel?! Have you considered that? You made me look like an absolute fool in front of everyone tonight. There is nothing wrong with spending time with friends and having a good time but what you’re doing is considered being more than friendly!” 

You’re both standing, facing each other with a short silence. Gary steps closer to you with glazed blue eyes peering right through yours. Almost looked like he wanted to burst into tears with you, “If you’re going right down to this kind of chat, then why would you bring back Carl from the other villa?” 

Your shoulders loosen up, taken back at his comment, “What?”

He gives you a single nod with a saddened frown, “You heard me, mate. You leave this villa asking me to not try anything on a bird and I listen. I may not show it but bloody hell, did it concern me to see all those lads trying to graft on you but I stayed calm because I trusted you.” 

Your body stays frozen, trying to process what Gary just confessed. It’s almost alien to hear knowing how certain he is of himself but you let him continue, “I came back loyal to you; not Chelsea or anyone else. What I said while we were alone after you came back from the other villa is all true. I’d missed you and goddamn, it was hard to not think about you every fucking day you were gone.” 

He signals out at the patio where the fire pit is at, “After not seeing you for days, you come back with someone else and I wasn’t counting on that. Staying with Chelsea was safe; I knew she would stick around as a true mate if I asked but…” 

Gary grows closer to you as his warm peppermint scent surrounds your nose. Your eyes meet his vulnerable ones, “…But, this feels more than a competition for a show. It all hit me hard seeing you holding hands with another lad. My feelings are getting involved and it’s not making things easier.” 

Your heart skips, hearing how devastated Gary felt to see you come home with someone else, “…Gary, I brought Carl back to get rid of Lucas. There was nothing too serious - ” You stop yourself as a soft scoff comes out of Gary’s mouth. 

The blonde haired islander turned his head to the side, debating if he should continue or not. He rubs his hand against his chin; as if it were relieve any of the stressful conversation, “Then why the hell did you kiss him while you cooked for us a couple nights ago?” He asked sharply. 

You break the eye contact, not knowing how to respond but he can see your chin tremble, “That was nothing…it means nothing to me.” You noticed that your voice began to break a little.

“And with Lucas,” He cocked his head, “That’s another one I had to deal with. He wouldn’t stop telling me that you and him had a thing going on.” You notice his chest tensed as he recalled the first night without the girls around, “If Bobby and Ibrahim weren’t there, I would’ve scuffled with that one.” 

You furrow your eyebrows at the thought of messing with another man, “I had nothing with Lucas! You know that recoupling did not go as expected.” You begin to get upset at all these allegations when you know Gary is the only man that you’d want to be with. 

“Well I don’t know if it’s worth staying with you if you can’t trust me, love.” Gary shrugs and waits for you to react. You try to process what he’s mentioned to you, hoping that you might’ve misheard the words that came out of his mouth. 

Before you can respond, a knock on the door interrupted and swung opened exposing Noah, “Hey, you two. Sorry to cut in like this but everyone’s coming in to get ready for bed.” 

“Thanks, Noah. We were just about done here either way.” You use your hands to smooth out your outfit as a method to divert your attention from Gary. 

Just as you watch Noah leave, your head turns to Gary, blinking enough to not let your sentiments get the better of you, “I’m glad we had this talk. It really lets me know where we’re at.” His face lingered with regret and you could’ve sworn you saw his arm hesitate to stop you from leaving. 

Heading towards your wardrobe, you pull out one of your sleepwear outfits. You avoid eye contact with any of the other islanders in the room. Bobby throws one of his jokes and is followed by the group’s laughter. Your mouth goes bitter the minute you hear Hannah approach Gary, “Hey, handsome. You totally abandoned me. I thought we were having a good time.” 

Your back is still facing them but your chest tightens at what Gary responds, “You know I’d be chuffed to bits to continue our time at the pool.” A playful chuckle roams out of his throat when Hannah tells him to stop poking her sides. 

You swallow your anger and cradle a few of your belongings that you’ll need for bed. By the quickest flicker of your eyes, you notice Gary waiting for you to go to sleep but you ignore him. Your legs keep walking until you exit the room. The bedroom remained quiet until you can hear Noah’s muffled voice behind walls, “Gary, are you two alright? I’ve never seen her so upset.” 

Gary sighs profoundly, “I wish I could tell you, mate.” You leave, not wanting to hear about him anymore. 

———————————————————————————————————————

The nightfall was to your favour; the wind was chill and light and you knew your sleep wouldn’t be disrupted by the heat. Your head rests against the cool pillow as your mind won’t stop retracing this day: from the morning until now and goodness, was it a mess. Your last relationship was a disaster and coming to Love Island was another method to redeem your love life. You had believed in Gary and his lovely advances; allowed him to say all the right things and reciprocate the same feelings until he began reciting similar things to Hannah. A deep breath is taken, already at the brink of coming to tears but maintain to control yourself. 

“…Mind if join you, babes?” You turn around at the sound of a sweet voice to see Chelsea standing next to the other side of the bed. 

You blink a few times and clear your throat, “Sure, I was just trying to relax out here.” 

Chelsea instantly sits next to you and gives you a weak smile, “I’m so sorry, hun. I know you’re out here avoiding Gary and Hannah. I wanted to see how you were doing.” 

You return the smile but you both knew it was forced, “Thanks, Chelsea. I appreciate you coming in to check on me. I’m fine, really! I just needed to sleep out here for tonight, you know. Get some time to self-reflect and all.”

Chelsea lets out a soft hum and you feel her arms encircle your body, “I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you, babes. If you want to have a chat about anything on your mind, I’ll always be available.” She releases you and give you a reassuring smile. 

You smile back, appreciative at seeing her concerns towards you, “Thank you and yeah, I’ve just had a rough day is all. I wasn’t expecting Gary to be so welcoming towards Hannah. He came looking for me and we talked but it did not go very well.” 

You look down the duvet and listen to Chelsea, “Oh hun, Gary looked devastated when you left. Noah took him aside for a talk downstairs.”

You subtly raise your eyebrow, angling your head to look at her, “Does anyone know you’re here?” 

She shakes her head, “No. Everyone is fast asleep, except for Gary and Noah of course but they don’t know I’m here.” 

You nod and rub your hand on your forehead, “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Chelsea. At first, I was certain that Gary was the one. He’s been nothing but loving and sweet until recently. I’ve even thought about leaving the villa to be quite honest with you.” 

A loud gasp is heard from the blonde, followed by worried cobalt eyes, “Don’t you even dare, missy! Ever since I’ve seen you on the telly, I knew you’d be competition for any girl in this villa. You’ve come so far and you can’t possibly leave. Besides, I’ve always loved seeing you with Gary together. You two make the most genuine and cute couple here.”

A weak giggle rumbles out of your lips, “That’s nice to hear but after today, I’ve developed doubts, babes. Gary’s head is being turned and he’s the only man in this villa that I want to be with.” You take a deep breath and frown, “…And I don’t want to be selfish. If he is no longer interested in me and wants to try things out with Hannah, I don’t want to be the burden towards his happiness. Even if it pains me to let him go, I’ll do it to see him happy but…”

Chelsea places her hand on your shoulder as a sign of comfort, “…But I can’t be here to see that. It will hurt me too much.” You can’t help but allow a few tears invade your eyes and cheeks. 

Chelsea tightly embraces you, “That’s so selfless of you, babes but I will tell you one thing. I know Gary is head of heels for you. When I told him you wanted to be couple up with him while we were together, you should’ve seen the look on his face; I’ve never seen his eyes light up like that. And even before, there was always a time he would bring you up in any conversation.” 

Hearing her talk about Gary like that gave you a small spark of hope but you crush it instantly by recalling today, “After today, he’s surely changed his mind and there’s nothing I can do about it.” You look up at the clear sky, observing how some stars would outshine the rest of the lot, “…Gary even said that he couldn’t see things working out with us and I walked away.” 

Chelsea frowns and allows the silence to have its moment, “I’m sure he didn’t mean any of that. You know how he is! Always talking before thinking.” 

The blonde turns her head towards the villa, noticing a light turn on, “I’d love to stay here, hun but I must go back to Carl. I told him I’d only be gone for a bit. Won’t you come with? Gary would surely be glad to see you back.” 

You shake your head, “I don’t think so,” You take her hand and give it a light squeeze, “But thank you so much for coming down here.” 

The corner of her lips wrinkle into the apple of her cheeks, giving you a small small, “Babes, you know I’ll be here for you and please, don’t worry about Gary!”  
———————————————————————————————————————

Your eyes feel dry as your lids slightly lift to see the peak of dawn. You only realize your sleep was short and your mouth feels utterly dehydrated; never realizing at what point you fell asleep. The back of your fingers try to rub away the exhaustion from your eyelids after you sit up. You peer around your surroundings to see the bright sky replacing the night’s darkness; you are sure that you’re the only one awake. 

A broken sigh escapes through your teeth, taking the decision to get up and walk towards the outdoor kitchen. You use the sink to brush your teeth, dreading the idea of facing the others in the bedroom, “I’m sure Lottie is loving all of this right now…” you mumble to yourself. 

Just as you make yourself back to the daybed and sit with crossed legs. You sit there for what feels like long moments, pondering about yesterday and all the talks you’ve had with everyone. You roll your eyes when your mind repeats Hope’s voice, saying that Gary surely fancies Hannah and Lottie seemingly agreeing and loathing her “chances” being ruined with him. Henrick also saying the same thing and trying to graft on you makes you shutter in repulsion. You never found him that endearing when you first met him and Henrick coming in strong this time made you dislike him more. You shake your head at yesterday’s disaster but your head immediately follows a familiar deep voice. 

You freeze at the sight of Gary standing with his hands holding two cups. Your eyes travel to his tired face, looking like he barely received any sleep last night. You can hear his nervous breathing before he can utter any words, “…Morning…” He quietly greets. 

His stress grows intensely not hearing you respond until you nod, “Good morning, Gary.” His shoulders loosen a bit at the sound of your soft voice. 

He carefully walks towards you and stretches out the cup as an offering, “I’ve made us a cuppa.” His jaw tenses at the difficulty of his speech. He finds it quite the challenge to approach women after a heated argument; afraid to blurt out the wrong words.

Your hands take the cup and bring it close to your lips, “Thank you.” You take a sip, finding the warmth of the tea inviting for the chilly morning. 

Gary visibly relaxes but you can still see him hesitate. It’s very strange to see him behave like this as you’re accustomed to seeing him so confident, “Mind if I join you?” He signals to the day bed. 

You can’t help but pat the daybed, signaling him to sit next to you. All you can do is give Gary the opportunity to talk since he has made the effort to confront you again. The muscled blonde gives you a faint smile as we makes his way to the other side of the bed and slides his wide frame next to you. You both sit in silence only listening to the morning birds chirp above your heads. 

The two of you glance at each other, shying at the subtle exchange of restrained emotions. Quietly, the both of you finish your tea. 

“So - ” Gary closes his mouth and looks down at his empty cup as you also tried to initiate a conversation at the same time. 

Your cheeks flush and you play with your fingers not knowing if you should try to talk again. Gary clears his throat as his deep voice absorbs your ears, “…I’m sorry, love.” His deep blue eyes gaped into yours, noticing the misery linger in his pupils, “I never wanted to make you feel like I don’t care about you.” 

He scoots closer to you just as you get the hint of his minty scent. His strong hands grab yours as his thumbs caress the back of your hands. Your intake bit of air, forgetting how lovely his touches could be, “I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you upset and normally I’d just brush it off but…” 

Gary stops mid-sentence; almost like if he was attempting to find the correct words, “…what we have is something I’ve never experienced before with any other woman. You make me feel like it’s okay to be weird, we always have a good laugh, and you’ve been a real mate since day one.”

He shakes his head with a faint smile, “I’m not much of a romantic fellow but I know how I feel about you and I didn’t want to give you mixed signals. All it was with Hannah was just for jokes but you were right; I should’ve considered how you were feeling.”

You examine Gary’s facial expressions trying to figure out if everything he was saying was out of truth. He brings up your hands to his smooth lips and tenderly kisses your knuckles. Your heart skipped a beat at the feel of his lips puckered on your skin. His beard lightly brushes on your fingers and you miss the physical contact when he lets go of you, “I swear on my nan that there’s no one else but you.”

Without a second thought, you wrap your arms around his neck and hug Gary. You hear a soft gasp coming from him. He’s taken back yet relieved at your gesture as you feel his strong arms keenly return the hug. His strong arms encircle your torso and you loosen the embrace a bit to roam your hands to his shoulders. His body’s warmth radiates to yours and buries his face at the curve of your neck. He almost seemed like he didn’t want to let you go but he lifts his head at the sweetness of your voice, “Thank you.” You give him warm smile as he returns it back. 

Your hand cups his face while your thumb traces the trim of his facial hair, seeing how he gazed at you lovingly, “I also owe you an apology, Gary. I have no interest in Carl and the only reason I brought him back was to get rid of Lucas.” Your eyebrows furrow as your eyes briefly look down, upset that you’d taken the wrongful decision to kiss Carl before. Your eyes come back to Gary’s, “I honestly don’t know where Lucas got the idea that I was even interested in him.”

The beat of your heart pounds harder against your chest as Gary’s masculine hands pull you closer. One of his hands remains on your waist and the other slides up your back. You shiver at the intimacy; your nose nearly touching his. He can feel your emotions nearly overflow. The corner of his lips curl into a smirk, “I know how you feel about me, sweetheart. And I’m certain you won’t change your mind so easily.” Gary whispers. 

His breath tickles your face and your chest tightens at his response; he’s completely right. At this point, you don’t know what exactly you feel for Gary; whether is was just a summer romance or if truly was love, but he’s all you’ve been about. His brightened eyes wander down your lips as you mimic the same towards his. 

Gary closes his eyes with the slight tilt of his head, he aims his lips to yours. You close the smallest of the gap and pressed your lips against his soft ones. You feel that familiar spark that doesn’t seem to wear off as you sway your lips slowly yet steady to his. Gary’s hand cups the outline of your jawline, deepening the kiss. The intensity of affectionate caressed mouths increases while your fingers travel from the side of his neck to his short blonde hair. You both pull away from the kiss just for a mere moment to catch a breath. 

His lips stretch a faint and content smile with blue eyes gaping at you with adoration, “Our bed felt empty and cold last night.” His voice made you shiver at how close he was to you, “Please don’t do that to me again, yeah?” Gary lightly rubbed the end of his nose on yours and continued with the unfinished kiss. He held onto you so tightly as if you’d disappear and never come back. Without detaching your lips from his, he gently guides you to lie down on your back while his body hovers over yours. Gary’s body warmth engulfs around your skin and you find it so inviting. 

His firm hand drifts down from your soft arms, slowly proceeding to your pelvis, then to your outer thigh. You break the intensity of the kiss and purse your lips on his neck. You leave a trail of tentative kisses down his skin, wanting to demonstrate the amount of passion and admiration you have for him. Your tongue makes contact between the kisses you gift him with and you notice his grip on you tightens. A low moan is sung out of Gary’s throat just as you feel it rumbled against your mouth, “Mmm…” 

You bring your face to his and give him a small peck. You stare into his lustful eyes; full of flared desire, “I love looking into your eyes; they’re very charming.” You whisper to him. 

Gary slightly raised his dark thick eyebrows, not expecting to hear your compliment. You can even see his cheeks blush and lets out a chuckle. He almost finds it odd to hear a compliment from a girl as he’s usually the one that gives them away, “I reckon you say that to a lot of lads.” 

A smile graces your face followed by a short laugh. You shake your head at his response, “I really do mean it. They’re quite gentle.” 

Gary lies next to you and brings you closer to his chest. You can hear his healthy heartbeat thump next to your ear and your arm comes across his torso to merge an embrace. Your eyes look up to see him and exchange smiles. His lips pucker into a sweet kiss on your forehead and sighs with happiness, “I can’t wait until this is all over, love. I’d like for you to finally meet my family and I get to one day shake your father’s hand. Wouldn't that be great?” 

A smile hugs your cheeks by listening to him enthusiastically talk about their near future, “I’d like that a lot.”


End file.
